29 May 2014 - The new protection of civilians (PoC) area in Juba would allow the displaced to live a more dignified life until they felt safe enough to return home, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) Hilde F. Johnson said today at a handover ceremony for the site.

Ma Qiang, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan, handing over the site to UNMISS, said construction of the site included levelling 600,000 square meters of land, digging four kilometers of ditches, building six kilometers of road, erecting eight kilometers of fence and drilling two boreholes.

Toby Lanzer, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, noted that the new PoC site would be hosting up to 13, 000 people in twelve different blocks of 1,500 each.

The site, located west of UN House in the Jebel area of Juba and the third PoC area in Juba, will mainly draw residents from the overcrowded PoC site at the Tomping protection area.

When conflict broke out in Juba in mid-December 2013, many residents fled to the two UN bases in the city, which now host about 14,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) each.

“No doubt that the opening of PoC3 is a good help to improve the living conditions of the IDPs … particularly at a time when the rainy season comes and additional threats of cholera breaks out,” Ambassador Qiang said.

“The bases of the mission, housing 29,000 people have remained virtually cholera-free, thanks to the work of partners,” SRSG Johnson said, adding that only one of the 514 suspected cases of cholera had been traced to an UNMISS compound.

“Our bases … were not fit to house thousands of people,” she said. “We need alternative locations which would be … safer, more spacious and better in terms of services,” she said.

The SRSG added that UNMISS had registered the highest number of IDPs in May – up to 91,000 in 10 bases across the country.

The completion of the China-funded project followed a tripartite letter of endorsement signed in early March by the UN, the Chinese government and the Government of South Sudan for construction of temporary shelters for IDPs in Juba.